


Those Nights

by MeredithBrody



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-28
Updated: 2013-06-28
Packaged: 2017-12-16 10:45:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/861173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeredithBrody/pseuds/MeredithBrody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jon needs to take his mind off the war, but he's not sure how it could happen, so he depends on his close friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Those Nights

_**I remember when we used to laugh** _   
_**About nothing at all, it was better than going mad** _   
_**From trying to solve all the problems we're going through forget 'em all** _   
_**Coz on those nights we would live and never die** _   
_**Together we faced it all** _

Everything seemed like it had fallen about their heads, the weight of not only one world, but several, falling on their shoulders, and no matter how he tried to think positively, it wasn't working as he had expected. He had thought that a distraction was exactly what he needed, but the letters from home, from _Columbia_ , from everywhere else he had friends and family weren't cutting it.

He remembered how he had used to spend hours sat in various rooms with his friends, with Erika, Trip, AG. Rarely all of them together, but they had been the nights that had reminded him of the joys of the universe, and everything they were trying to get on with.

Now, he didn't know what to do. AG was gone, into a world where Jon couldn't contact him and ask for his help, his opinion. Erika was on her own ship, busy with her own problems, her own weights. They shared them as best they could when they were parsecs apart, but until they were together again, her comfort would be short lived. But he still had one friend he could turn too, one friend he was certain would join him for a drink and something to watch.

So he resigned himself, grabbing one of the bottles from his stash and skulking through his own ship. The Captain being seen after hours with a bottle of bourbon was probably not the confidence boost his crew needed, but he needed the boost that could come from just sitting and talking with Trip. The chime for the door was louder than he'd expected, or maybe it was just that time of night where the ship seemed quieter than it was.

"Jon?" Trip asked, clearly confused, but not sleepy. At least Jon hadn't woken his chief engineer up. That would probably have put a dampener on the evening.

"Remember when we used to sit and drink and talk?" He asked, and Trip let him in almost immediately, pulling two glasses from the cabinet by his door. "I could use forgetting the universe for a while."

" _It Came From Beneath The Refrigerator_ is in the database. We still haven't finished that." Trip suggested, and Jon just nodded, pouring them both a liberal helping of the bottle he held. Wondering if he'd even remember any of this movie now. It had been a long time since they'd last done this. "Mind if I ask why you aren't talking all this through with Captain Hernandez?"

"Because she's 3 parsecs away, and while talking to her helps while I'm talking to her, when we end the call, it all settles again." He shook his head, he loved Erika. "I love her, but it's easier to get the help from her when we're together. To just forget that the war is my problem for one night, it's easier to be here." He smiled at Trip and lifted his glass in a silent toast to his friend.

"I'm not going to pretend I don't need it." Trip laughed, collapsing onto the bed as Jon slid into the chair. Just gossiping about what was going on aboard the ship, and the things they had gleaned about what it was like over on _Columbia_. Talking about mutual friends on Earth and elsewhere. After a few hours, Jon felt like a new man, the weight lifted from his shoulders. He knew that the relief was only temporary, and largely caused by the alcohol he'd drunk and the time he'd spent talking about nothing serious with his best friend.

There was one thing he and Trip could agree on in the aftermath of this night, and this conversation. They needed to spend more time together to try and forget the universe for a while. They both felt better for it, and now Jon could happily make his late night call to Erika before hopefully getting a few undisturbed hours sleep. There might be many things responsible for getting him to the position he was in now, but the nights he spent doing everything yet nothing with his friends were what kept him there.

_**Stay up late and we'd talk all night** _   
_**In a dark room lit by the TV light** _   
_**Through all the hard times in my life** _   
_**Those nights kept me alive** _


End file.
